Match Report: February 15^th 2003, Westminster Old Boys 0 – Old Harrovians 3

After the thrilling 6-5 victory over Lancing the week before, the Old Harrovian football team faced another stiff test on Valentine’s weekend against Old Westminsters. Although a recently promoted team, Westminster showed what they are capable of when comprehensively dismantling us 5-0 on the opening day of the season. With several regular 1^st XI players missing, the Harrow team were fully aware that only an excellent performance would allow them to extend their winning run in the Arthurian League Premier Division.

Conditions on the normally excellent pitches in Cobham were tricky – the morning kick-off meant a frosty surface, which prevented passing and dribbling of the ball with any great certainty. However it was the Harrow side that settled better and after a quarter of an hour they opened the scoring – David Lederman whipping in one of his trademark free-kicks for Quentin Baker to head firmly past the Westminster keeper.

With star striker Harry Hoffen having gone on loan to his girlfriend in Australia for the next month, his brother Rupert was paired with the livewire Jamie Waugh up front. An athletic midfielder in his schooldays (sadly now just a midfielder), Jamie proved himself a more than adequate replacement for the love struck Hoffen, when he produced a moment of outstanding skill to score the second Harrow goal on twenty minutes. Collecting a neat first-time lay-off from Rupert (it was indeed the first time Rupert has laid the ball off to anyone), Jamie advanced to just outside the Westminster penalty area before unleashing a powerful, curving shot over the goalkeeper and into the top left-hand corner of the net. Two-nil and Harrow looked in good shape.

A third goal arrived with half an hour gone: Quentin Baker capitalising on some Westminster hesitation from a goal kick to prod the ball past a stranded keeper. Westminster had, by now, lost heart. Evidently fielding a weakened team themselves, they could not reach anything like the heights of their excellent performance against us back in the September sunshine.

The second half was mainly unremarkable with neither team dominating. Westminster went close a couple of times early on, but Harrow responded strongly and should have scored again themselves. The normally much-maligned Harrow defence had also apparently been weakened with the absence of both first choice center-halves, but it rarely showed. Messrs Litherland, Danos, Warner, and Tweddle preventing any serious Westminster attacks and keeper James Harper looking solid whenever called upon.

In fact, the only other item of note in the game was the clean sheet kept by Harrow – it left the team scratching their heads in wonder at when this had last been achieved – the answer, sadly, is likely to be from the last Millennium!

This was a highly competent performance from the Harrow boys against relatively weak opposition. The team now has six games remaining including three against the two teams above them in the table, Lancing and Forest, and two against the bottom two teams in the division, Brentwood and Chigwell. Although it is a big task, five wins in these five games could yet see Harrow challenging for the championship, should other results go our way.

Congratulations to the team on another excellent performance and here’s to the next clean sheet!

Harrow (4-4-2): James Harper; Justin Litherland, Dom Danos, Nick Warner, Charlie Tweddle; David Lederman, Paul Molloy, Quentin Baker, Charlie Feather; Rupert Hoffen, Jamie Waugh